Travels With Miranda

I have to confess to being a bit stressed about the next 1,000 miles of travel that will take me to my destination in Virginia. The reason has been foreshadowed since I hit Missouri and will get worse across the Mississippi, when I am firmly back in the East: the lack of overnight parking opportunities for RVers. I was hoping to get to Virginia in two nights, but the section through the Blue Ridge Mountains of West Virginia could seriously slow me down. I need a solid list of overnighting options every 300 miles or so.

My usual resources failed me, so last night I finally subscribed to the Overnight RV Parking. Most of the results for Kentucky and West Virginia are too old to be useful, but there are some reasonably recent suggestions that could still be viable. For example, tomorrow morning, I will call the Cracker Barrels in Louisville and see if they still allow overnight RV parking.

(Question: why is it St Loo-iss and Lou-ee-vil (and, yes, I know that’s not how Louisville is pronounced by locals, but you get my meaning!)

Ironically, the rarer the the overnighting options, the more expensive the campgrounds. I can afford a few nights in a campground, but I am going to be very angry about spending $50 plus to stay in one. So I would welcome suggestions from any readers who have traveled I-70 to to I-64 into Virginia.

I remember crossing the Mississippi on my first trip west, back in 2005. Even then, I could feel a very tangible difference on the other side of the riverbank. I suspect that this difference will be even more pronounced tomorrow.

Today, I took reader Gina’s advice and drove all the way to historic St Charles, Mo, to visit the historic downtown section as well as the Lewis and Clark Boat House and Nature Center.

‘All the way’ is about 3 miles from where Miranda is parked, at the Harrah’s Casino.

It was cold in the rig today and it promised to be grey and miserable all day, so I decided that since I was up I might as well get an early start and have breakfast in St Charles before going to the museum, which opened at 10. It was only 9:30 when I was done, so I went over to Walmart, also in St Charles, to get a few things and discovered a gigantic Dollar Tree store next door. I have never seen one so big, and it was full of brand name products! The cashier teased me when I told her that ‘all those bags’ couldn’t all be mine, saying that she was watching me toss stuff in my basket like I was touring Ali Baba’s cave! Everything was on the list, however, and I barely had to get anything at Walmart.

I then drove to the historic downtown portion of St Charles, a formerly French-Canadian city that was the last bastion of civilization for the Lewis and Clark expedition. There is tons of free parking down near the boat house, just a block from the southern portion of Main Street.

I read the Lewis and Clark journals about 15 years ago, but I think they would make a bigger impression on me today, so I have downloaded the free Kindle version (readable on my iPad and iPod Touch using the Kindle app) and am looking forward to rereading about their journey now that I have pretty much covered their whole route to the Pacific Ocean.

The museum is small with entry costing $4. This includes a really good National Geographic movie about the expedition that had me glued to the edge of my seat!

After the museum, I walked up to Main Street and walked it from the southern to the northern end and back again, visiting a few shops and checking out the restaurant menus. The Little Hills Winery menu was particularly appealing and quite inexpensive, so I went in, but lunch was rather disappointing. The ciabatta bun was stale and the McCain-type seasoned wedge fries were tepid. The sandwich filling, however, was incredibly delicious and is one I would like to recreate at home! There was a most and flavourful charbroiled chicken breast topped with thin slices of creamy Brie, two strips of crispy bacon, and a delicious apple and onion chutney, definitely worth the price of lunch.

I got an ice cream for the walk back to the car, made briskly as the sky was starting to spit. It’s now very windy and threatening to storm.

Check out the gallery for more information about my day.